Welcome to our latest newsletter! Keep up to date with our recent and upcoming activities, news, and events (GeoCom18 – 8 November – save the date!)
From the chair:
March – in with a roar and out like a lamb – after another weekend of the Beast from the East I’m certainly looking forward to warmer days!
On Friday, AGI Council had our 2nd meeting of the year – and as you will see in this newsletter, our progress in recent months has been significant, supported by our members and very active contributions from volunteers. The continued growth in our membership is fantastic to see – and I’ll take the opportunity here to welcome new members who have joined us in recent months.
Personally, I’m pleased to see in our activities we are being successful in reaching out beyond what could be seen as our traditional membership – both with public facing audiences (Edinburgh Science Festival on 2 April); new and innovative research (Roger Tomlinson Lecture, 22 March) and for much needed discussions on diversity (Women in Geospatial Breakfast).
I was delighted to be able to attend the AGI Scotland National Event, a demonstration of the vibrancy and enthusiasm of the geospatial community and real innovation against a backdrop of the challenges many organisations are facing (some fantastic presentations on security and the impact of GDPR for example). I also enjoyed hearing from members and in particular views on the Geospatial Commission – which continues to be a very important strand of our activity and engagement.
I look forward to hearing from many more of you at other events this year – and of course, save the date for GeoCom, make sure 8 November is in your calendar!
Thank you for your continuing support and please always get in touch with your views and ideas – it’s what drives us forward.
Abigail Page, AGI Chair
Recent activities:
Geospatial Commission Breakfast Briefing
On February 22nd, we welcomed a full house at the Geospatial Commission Breakfast Briefing in Westminster, hosted by AGI. Our guests represented an excellent cross-section of the geo community, which stimulated an intriguing, exciting debate. Reports from our recent Geospatial Commission – AGI Breakfast Briefing are now online, in Short and Full Summary form. Please continue to send us your views on this important topic.
AGI Scotland Annual Event
Tuesday 27th Feb saw a record-breaking turnout for the AGI Scotland Annual Event in Glasgow. Despite the snow, we welcomed a remarkable 150 delegates, 18 fantastic speakers and were supported by eight excellent sponsors (Gold: thinkWhere, Ordnance Survey, Informed Solutions and Europa Technologies, and and Silver: Verisk Geoinformation, CARTO, British Geological Survey and 1Spatial).
Bruce Gittings, AGI Scotland Chair, said “in the near twenty years we have been organising an annual event for Scotland’s geospatial community this had the highest attendance”.
This year’s event had a dual theme; GI applications, where participants got a focused update on the latest innovation and developments in GI in Scotland and beyond, led by a highly graphical keynote by Joann Russell from Historic Environment Scotland. The second theme involved data, security and ethics, with talks ranging from the issues involved in data dissemination to preparation for the 2021 Census, with Don Smith from Dell SecureWorks worrying everyone in the room as to the extent of malicious threats coming from around the world. A full agenda can be downloaded here.
Ryland Karlovich, event organiser, said “This was a fantastic event, lots of new faces and a real buzz, with much discussion in the sessions, over breaks and at lunch.”
AGI Scotland would like to say a special thank you to everyone involved; without the support of our sponsors, willingness of speakers, and interest within the GI community, these events are not possible!
Ensure you keep up to date with AGI Scotland’s news, events and other activities. And sign up to our blog.
It’s been a busy start to 2018 for AGI Scotland! They have announced their Geospatial Emerging Talent Initiative which aims to bring budding geospatial professionals & ambitious businesses together, to prepare individuals for a career in our industry and energise the workplace with enthusiasm and new ideas! More information here.
Women in Geospatial Breakfast
AGI recognised International Women’s Day by supporting this event (with the Geovation Hub and OGC), which celebrated the career paths of some of the great female leaders and innovators in the geospatial industry, and importantly, discuss gendered challenges within our industry. We’d love to support similar events – are you interested in getting involved?
Upcoming Events
- In London on Thursday? We are pleased to be supporting the annual Roger Tomlinson Prize Lecture this year. Hosted by The Consumer Data Research Centre, the prize will be awarded after the lecture, given by Michael Gould, Esri’s Global Education Manager. The event will take place on Thursday 22nd March (17:00-20:00) at Senate House, London. The event is free to attend, but please register through Eventbrite.
- AGI & Royal Scottish Geographical Society will be at the Edinburgh International Science Festival! Join us on 3 April – Chaired by Iain Stewart our panel Nigel Clifford; Paul Longley; Javier de la Torre & Helen Ferrier. Supported kindly by Ordnance Survey & CARTO. Tickets are available directly from the box office.
- Some important dates for your diary:
- 22 – 23 May – GEO Business 2018. AGI Chair, Abigail Page, will chair a panel session looking at how geospatial can enable the growth of the economy and the role of the Geospatial Commission.
- 2-7 September – UK Mapping Festival 2018. AGI will be at this celebration of all things mapping, more details on our event in the festival to follow.
- 8 November – GeoCom, London. Join us for our annual flagship event, an essential for all UK professionals with an interest in geospatial to be inspired by leading thought leaders and build your network. Save the date!
- Cadcorp are hosting a range of free-to-attend conferences over the next month! With 3 confirmed dates spanning 3 cities, Cadcorp welcome those working in the public sector such as Fire and Rescue Services, & those in central and local government. More information on our events page.
- Check out what our members Cadline, GeoData Institute, thinkWhere, and GeoPlace, are up to on our upcoming events page.
In the news:
- David Wood, the new pan-government Head of Geography, writes his first blog on ‘geography, government and GSE’. David is working with communities of geographers across government to ‘develop a strategy to grow, professionalise and champion geography’. Read the full blog here.
- Nicola Sturgeon appoints Jennifer Henderson as the new Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. A big congratulations Jennifer – from all those at AGI!
- GeoPlace has opened its annual Exemplar Awards programme to councils utilising address or street data in innovative ways. Full press release here.
We’ve released a variety of press releases this month from Airbus, GeoPlace, and thinkWhere! These provide a great insight into what our corporate members are up to. We always like to highlight interesting industry news so follow us on Twitter!
If there’s anything you would like to share with the AGI community, be it a personal insight into the industry, a corporate member’s event or press release, then get in touch. Send your contributions to info@agi.org.uk – no fake news please!
(Calling all AGI members! Remember to send your case studies to info@agi.org.uk. These will be added to our online library in due course, offering us the chance to refer new contacts and industry colleagues to your most interesting GI case studies!)
Thanks for taking some time to stay up to date with us.
Best wishes,
The AGI team